How much?

yea there's always another shot. just redeposit and move up stakes.

So everyone should be bringing something to society? What's wrong with me going and buying goods and services with the money I make playing poker?

And live poker is ok? Just online poker is the devil?

Yo Hodge05: Your profile says you are 19 years old and you have EIGHT poker accounts at various poker sites......I am gueesing you have been playing online poker for years and you play many hours per week... Your entire post is really just aimed at yourself...........

Take your OWN advice and quit playing poker and go on a date with a real girl !!!

I think you raise some serious points and some people that probably read this thread will not have REALLY asked themselves some of the questions.

any hobby, for it to be a healthy one (physicaly, psychologically), needs to have some balance to it. the same (basically) applies for many jobs.

Mind you, the questions you raise above could be asked of someone who is a e.g. corporate lawyer, I think, too (long hours, little social life due to 80+ hr weeks, no 'clear tangible benefit to society' (eh hem...), may be bad for mental health, etc).

You raise good questions and the answers are not easy! "What is the good life?" is a question that has been asked for 2,500 years+ MANY people fail to ask this question of themselves and of the few who do ask this question... fail to come up with a good answer (I fall into this category to some extent... it's a hard question... give me 20 years and then maybe I'll be wise enough).

--tc

LOL Hodge is like 90, he's just trying to protect the rest of you youngens...and he has a point! No offense, but IMO, if you get the opportunity to go to college and choose not to in order to play poker, thats just plain stupid. College is 30% about the degree you get and 70% about the experiences you have while there that help you become a better person.

That being said Hodge, not all people are wrong for online poker. If you have made enough playing poker to pay for your tuition while attending college, then trying it out for a year or two after graduation isnt such a bad thing. I have a friend that works a "normal" job for 20-25 hrs a week at a very respected investment firm and then plays poker for another 25-30 hours. He does very well at both places.

For those who are already playing poker...you should know that bankroll management skills are VERY important. You MUST play within your bankroll or one winning year can quickly change to 2 or 3 losing years. No matter how much money you made, you WILL have a down year, its just a fact, so make sure that when you are up, youre making appropriate choices to get you through that down year.

Thats it!

most well disguised brag post ever

so obv that Hodge got laid last night

Let’s see, some of the things that poker has improved in my life:

Preparing for new situations.<SPAN> </SPAN>

Whenever I play a new live (or online) tournament, I prepare. <SPAN> </SPAN>I develop a game plan.<SPAN> </SPAN>I might suck, but I’m prepared coming in.<SPAN> </SPAN>I know the structure, and I know what I want to accomplish at each stage of the tournament. <SPAN> </SPAN>I know how I want to play against each different type of player than I think I’ll encounter. <SPAN> </SPAN>This has caused me to do this more often in real life. <SPAN> </SPAN>To the tune of getting a few jobs that maybe I wouldn’t have gotten had I not prepared so thoroughly before hand. <SPAN> </SPAN>

Playing within means. Bankroll management.

In other words, not spending money where I should not. <SPAN> </SPAN>Making sure that my roll is properly allocated, and that I don’t blow it. <SPAN> </SPAN>This has caused me to manage my money outside of poker better as well. <SPAN> </SPAN>I realize how much more each dollar I spend on ridiculous crap means. <SPAN> </SPAN>I don’t overspend as much as I once did, and I budget a lot more. <SPAN> </SPAN>In fact, it got me to start cooking at home, saving more money, and eating healthier. <SPAN> </SPAN>I don’t waste electric.<SPAN> </SPAN>I don’t run the water bill up as much. <SPAN> </SPAN>On and on. <SPAN> </SPAN>

Understanding that I don’t play well when I’m tired.<SPAN> </SPAN>

This has caused me to start getting a lot more cardio, and some weightlifting.<SPAN> </SPAN>I didn’t really get overweight, but I was starting to get a little flabby (doughy might be a better word).<SPAN> </SPAN>I was getting tired quicker at night when I played, or went out, or just sat around.<SPAN> </SPAN>I realized when I felt like crap I played poorly, so I figured it had to translate into other things too.<SPAN> </SPAN>I got back into cardio, and some weightlifting, and noticed a very positive result (coupled with eating better because I started cooking at home).<SPAN> </SPAN>

Identifying mistakes, and actively pursuing ways to prevent them.<SPAN> </SPAN>

This is huge.<SPAN> </SPAN>I think it’s obvious how this translates into your real life.<SPAN> </SPAN>Yet, so many people that I know don’t look for the “leaks” in their life.<SPAN> </SPAN>I didn’t just do it in my game (which still needs a sick amount of improvement) but how I run myself.<SPAN> </SPAN>I developed a spreadsheet on all the pressing issues I have going on (it could be anything from a debt to something medical to a relationship, doesn’t matter), and kept tab of the progress of all of those issues.<SPAN> </SPAN>This actually took a crap load of worry off my mind.<SPAN> </SPAN>Mostly because it was down on “paper” (actually on Excel) and I no longer had to think (as much) about it because I knew I would visit those issues, and update their progress on a nearly daily basis.<SPAN> </SPAN>

I started finding that I was getting a LOT more things accomplished.<SPAN> </SPAN>I increased my education for my resume, I paid off a lot of small debts to concentrate on bigger ones, yet increase my credit score, I made decisions about relationships that I either wanted to have, or no longer have quicker, and easier.<SPAN> </SPAN>I decided on things I wanted to buy quicker rather than wondering if there was something better for a long time, and not buying anything at all.<SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN><SPAN> </SPAN>

Lastly, I could list a few more, but I think the picture is clear. <SPAN> </SPAN>Playing poker has benefited my life in good ways.<SPAN> </SPAN>It has caused me to look at things in a perspective I did not have before I started playing. <SPAN> </SPAN>

This is an excellent post,

Poker players contribute absolutely nothing to society, and all professional poker players, even the great doyle brunson are gambling addicts. If greg raymer or doyle bruson or phil ivey werent addicted to gambling(in this case poker is the form of gambling), they would have stopped playing a long time ago....and dont give me the its for the competition and the love of the game....bs, they play for money...I personally have no problem with it but I agree with a lot of what was said.

After finding online poker, I found myself fatter, lazier and my variety of activities(music, reading, working out, going out looking for ladies) decreased quite a bit till i decided to play only once aweek online....it is a very dangerous thing because it is always there...we all know this...

Hodge isnt telling you to do anything, he is just stating some very good points about online poker in general, it's okay to like something and admit that it has negative and harmful effects, if you cant do it and be comfortable you are obviously very insecure.

GP

lol, well spotted

"The time you spend playing poker could be used to go out, meet a friend, perhaps a girlfriend. It could be spent exercising and working on ones health."

I could say the same about YOUR regular job as well. Maybe if we all quit our jobs and poker, we could go out and drink and have orgies all day long... Oh wait... Bills! Shit... forgot about those...

I don't do this for a living... I have a regular job and I attend college full time, but I make a substantial part of my income from poker right now, and I enjoy playing. I eat well, exercise regularly, and I'm a very healthy person. How exactly does playing online poker hurt me? I think going to a shady, underground poker room would be far more hazardous to my health than playing online.

Sounds to me like you've lost one too many buy-ins, sir. Maybe before you write an asinine thread like this again, you should re-examine your own life... instead of trying to scare all the fish away from my pond...

It is.... he is attempting to scare off would-be online poker players... How is this not a personal attack? I think this guy just lost a lot of money online and is trying to make himself feel better. Sure it probably won't have a huge impact on me personally, but it annoys me when I see several people posting threads like this. I know that for every thread like this there's maybe a handful of players who decide to go get an Xbox instead of blow their money online because of it.

"this is a good post but it doesn't matter because the people involved are delusional"

This might be the best post in this thread..some of you guys are increadible....even if you think (mistakenly) that playing poker instead of college is a good idea, with ANY level of maturity, you should be able to recognise that the original post is ONLY trying to be helpful and is correct for a LOT of people...

^^^^^post of the year

I like this post a lot mhodge and figured it would get flamed. What gboro said happens to 99% of successful players and 100% at one point or another. For every choice one makes there's a sacrifice of taking that path. Playing online poker is certainly a sacrifice in other parts of a person's life. I've re-evaluated my life with and without online poker many times to make sure that the time I spend playing poker isn't time that I'm going to regret spending, especially when I look back 10 years down the road. At this stage in my life, playing poker 20 hours a week as a 'side job' during school is worth it to me. Sure I've probably sacrificed a little bit in the academic department, maybe a bit socially (anyone with a 20hour/week job would), but on the other hand I've been able to pay for my college tuition and have opportunities such as studying abroad in Oxford, living in Vegas for a summer, and networking with some of the greatest people and minds a person could ever imagine meeting. These opportunities wouldn't have been available to me otherwise.

However, the game is very addictive, especially for successful players; and I never want to make poker my life where I dream about poker, talk about poker 24/7, and sacrifice future goals because of online poker. For the reader, I hope you don't either. If you have, I hope you re-evaluate what's truly important to you in your life and what you're going to appreciate about your life 10,20,50 years down the road.